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June 6, 2008 (MARK MAREMONT and JUSTIN SCHECK - Wall Street Journal)
In a separate four-count indictment against Mr. Nicholas alone, prosecutors allege that the former Broadcom chief engaged in a pattern of drug use and abuse over a nearly seven-year period. The charges against him include conspiracy to distribute Ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Among the more sensational charges is that Mr. Nicholas spiked the drinks of Broadcom customers and others with drugs without their knowledge. Although the indictment doesn't identify any such persons by name, it cites an early 2000 incident in New Orleans at which the Broadcom chief allegedly used Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, to spike the drink of a "technology executive."
Prosecutors also allege that Mr. Nicholas in 2001 directed a Broadcom employee to pay a drug courier between $5,000 and $10,000 in cash in the lobby of Broadcom's headquarters. The same year, they say, marijuana smoke aboard Mr. Nicholas's private plane was so thick during a trip to Las Vegas that the pilot had to put on an oxygen mask.
In 2002, the indictment alleges, Mr. Nicholas had Broadcom pay $1 million to a former employee and his attorney in a settlement that contractually prevented the former employee from "speaking about defendant Nicholas's unlawful narcotics activities."
Federal prosecutors began investigating allegations of drug use by Mr. Nicholas last year, after a former personal assistant, Kenji Kato, sued Mr. Nicholas for back wages and accused him of hiring prostitutes and spending large sums on drugs. Mr. Kato's lawyer said Thursday the case is pending. Many of the specific drug-related allegations in the criminal indictment closely mirror charges in Mr. Kato's civil complaint.
AntiSpin: Here at iTulip we have an occasional 4PM beer or two on Fridays, but no meth, coke, pot, Ecstasy or prostitutes. Sorry.
The story reminds us that during bubble boom times people get carried away, but that in the bust times that follow they can get carried away further.
Drug use that starts off at the bubble peak as party fuel continues as pain relief during the bust. Will the drug habits of the Mortgage Monsters picked up during the mortgage lending party days could similarly morph?
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